Don't Mention It
by dart53
Summary: One shot of life around the mansion as the guys try to accommodate the Warden after one of the missions.


**Don't Mention It**

Dr. Phillips decided that he'd be more comfortable and probably get more rest if he was allowed to come back to the estate. The men knew if he was left in the hospital too long after he was able to get on his feet he'd do an awful lot of pacing and if they could talk him into trying to get some sleep he'd probably wake up at almost every sound. Here at least he knew when a sound was something important enough that he needed to get involved in it. Of course, almost as soon as they crossed the threshold of the building he was searching out things that he either thought he had to do, or things he figured he could do and they had to find some way to deal with that. This morning it was putting dishes away down in the kitchen again.

They usually got their own breakfast, tea if Goniff was telling the story, and almost always washed up after themselves. While the men didn't mind scrubbing the breakfast things off none of the cons saw any sense in drying pots, pans and dishes if the stuff would dry off on its own left on the counter long enough. Actor was the exception, but only when it came to glassware…there was just something about water spots on glasses that set him off. When he was in better shape the Warden button holed whoever he could catch and stared them into the job of drying and putting everything away if he found a pile left to drain like that. These days he just did it himself, it gave him something to do and, the Sergeant Major confided well out of ear shot, kept him out of Rawlins hair for a little while.

They were actually leaving things on purpose now, just to give him something to occupy his time and his hands, but they had to learn exactly how to do it. The first time out the Lieutenant ended up with a slice along his palm when he grabbed a handful of what he thought was tableware only to discover the small paring knife buried in the pile.

Chief watched as the Lieutenant worked. Garrison knew the layout of the kitchen and where everything was stored. His vision was almost good enough now that he could make out the larger objects if they were in the way, that was an improvement. They learned just how badly his eyes had been affected the hard way, when he first got back. Goniff had gone off and left one of the benches shoved out away from the table and the Warden had run afoul of it. He ended up on his back on the floor surrounded by broken glass. Casino had the watch that time but he was on the wrong side of the table and didn't see the obstacle in time. He shouted from the stairs for the Lieutenant to lay still until he could safely get him up and out of the mess. When he hauled him to his feet, he told them later, he really expected Garrison to go on the warpath over the incident but the Warden just quietly berated himself for his clumsiness and then made a crack about not knowing the mansion kitchen was mined. That's how they got their first clue just how worried the Lieutenant was. That quiet response was a dead give away.

The scout leaned against the wall at the base of the stairs and continued to watch. The Warden was nearly finished but a door on the overhead cupboard near the pantry had swung open and that part of the room was in shadow, the Lieutenant probably wouldn't be able to see it.

"How's it comin', Warden?"

Craig stopped dead in his tracks. He knew one of them was probably around somewhere he just didn't know who'd drawn the duty, the arrangement seemed to be fairly random. Turning he watched his point man, or at least the distorted outline of his point man, as he made his way into the room and then crossed behind him. The soft thud of wood knocking together gave him the reason for the young man's greeting.

"That door swing out again?"

"Yeah."

"I guess we need to get Mr. Marley to fix it before I manage to give myself a black eye."

"I'll tell Winnie when I see her." Chief promised.

Winifred Marley and her husband, Alfred, worked for the people who owned the estate. When the Army first took the property over for their maximum security 'training base' the couple had been kept off the grounds but as soon as Garrison realized he could trust the men Alf, then Winnie, had been allowed back. Alf took care of the grounds around the place, Winnie looked after the inside. They weren't there every day, they didn't need to be. Alf came once or twice a week and Winnie was in three times. When she came she'd clean the unused parts of the mansion, and see to the houseplants, they kept up their own areas. Before she left she'd usually cook up several dishes and leave them in the ice box for their suppers. Alf would do whatever needed doing outside and make any repairs around the place they didn't have the time or experience to do themselves. The Marley's had earned the title of 'Good People' and had even been entrusted with the keeping of Goniff's little friend Eddie.

Craig waited for Chief to move back out of the room and take up his spot on the stairs. He knew if the youngest member of the team was on guard duty he'd keep quiet unless he spotted something that was really going to cause trouble for him. Unlike the others the young man would even let him make his own mistakes, put things away incorrectly or take a wrong turn in the hall. He silently let him discover his error and then make his corrections, standing by in case he couldn't manage it. He'd found that out early on when he got himself turned around in an unused part of the house, it was right after he'd gotten out of the hospital and he didn't have very much stamina yet. All it took, as he remembered it, was a frustrated sigh on his part when he'd run himself into the same dead end for the third time and the young man miraculously showed up. Supposedly he was just bored and rambling around the house to burn up time and energy. That was his story anyway but Craig knew it was a con job. His scout hated being cooped up inside and if he needed to burn off energy he generally did it out on the grounds that surrounded the house. Chief had come up with some subject to talk about, something else that was out of character for him, and allowed him to follow his voice back out of the dim hall and into the main part of the house, sparing him the embarrassment of a hand on his elbow to guide him.

Chief waited for the last pot to find its place and then fell in behind the Warden as he made his way up the stairs to the main level. "What's the plan for today?"

"Well I figure I've given Sergeant Major Rawlins more than enough time to get things organized in the office and now I'll go in there so he can read me the important parts of the reports before he points out exactly where I have to sign them."

Chief let out a soft laugh and watched as Garrison's hands explored the door to his office. They'd stopped a little short and weren't directly in front of it and it took him a second to find the knob and shove it open. The scout made eye contact with Rawlins, silently handing the Warden over to him before taking his leave. "See ya later, Lieutenant."

"Thanks, Chief."

"Don't mention it, man."

Craig felt the security of Chief's presence at his back melt away as he squared himself with the frame of the door before he stepped into the room. He could make out the Sergeant Major's outlined against the light that streamed in the window. He moved into the room, neatly skirting the chair that sat in front of his desk. His vision was improving, maybe not fast enough to suit him, but he couldn't do anything about that. The ointment he had to use several times a day turned everything into one big blur, but at least he was able to pick the outline of things up now so he wasn't always tripping over everything anymore. Those little mishaps had caused sarcastically concerned comments from Casino, extra hovering from Goniff and more than one lecture from Actor, on top of leaving several painful bruises on his shins! He couldn't read yet, of course, that was still several days off according to the specialist, but at least he could make out the stacks of reports where Rawlins set them out on his desk.

"Good morning, sir. I've been expecting you."

Sergeant Major Rawlins stepped back and pulled the Lieutenant's chair out, his hand hovered near the CO's elbow but he didn't touch him. He'd 'helped' a little too much the second day and been dressed down for it… Lieutenant Garrison apologized for his outburst almost as soon as it ended and Gil accepted the apology just as quickly. He knew the comments had come from the underlying fear that the condition was going to be permanent… A visit by a specialist two days ago had finally laid those fears to rest.

"Alright, let's get to work, Sergeant."


End file.
